Suhrid Barua has an unbridled passion for business and sports. He has worked/written for media houses like Thatscricket.com, The New Indian Express, MiD Day, Maharastra Herald (now Sakaal Times), Pune Mirror (Times of India's tabloid daily), CricketCountry, The Assam Tribune, The Telegraph and Sportskeeda. Watch out for this blog space for interviews, analysis, match coverage, stats figures and much more!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Sports is all about making the most of a winning momentum,
for you never know when a bad run is around the corner. It is this winning
spell that can do a lot to raise the profile of the sport, especially when the
sport itself is showing signs of catching the imagination of the public after
lying in deep slumber for years.

Indian football can be seen in the same light
- it had everything going for them recently – first, with the men’s team making
it a hat-trick of Nehru Cup wins with a stupendous win over much-fancied
Cameroon and second – the women’s team covering themselves in glory, annexing
the 2nd SAFF Football Championship, staging a come-from-behind victory over
Nepal and asserting their regional supremacy in no uncertain terms.

Clearly, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) must have
been experiencing a ‘feel-good’ feeling given that they have so much to
gloat about when it comes to our national team faring well in international
competitions.

The country’s governing football body should have
capitalized on the new-found self-belief and confidence in our national teams
by promoting and staging the 34th Federation Cup – the country’s second biggest
football tournament after the I-League – in the best possible manner.

The successful hosting of the 34th Federation Cup would have
given further fillip to Indian football in terms of throwing up new talents.
The onus (of hosting the Federation Cup) lies with AIFF and its commercial & broadcast partner IMG-Reliance.

Of course, there might be hushed
whispers that AIFF should not be squarely blamed for the fiasco, since the commercial and broadcast rights are
entrusted to IMG-Reliance, but no one can deny the fact that the football body
has to take the blame along with IMG-Reliance.

The organizers' failure to provide live telecast of the event panned out to be a bitter pill to
swallow as sports channel Ten Action backed out at the last minute.

The 34th
Federation Cup took a ‘lethal punch’ on its face with this broadcast fiasco and
was nearly on the ‘canvas’ when the organizers shifted one of the two venues
(other being Siliguri) from Ranchi to Jamshedpur just a week before the start of the tournament.
The Ranchi ground was deemed unfit to play and this is shocking when you
consider that AIFF officials had inspected the ground a few weeks back and
rendered it ‘playable’.

Thus, the non-telecast of the tournament coupled with the
shifting of venue has indeed sullied the image of Indian football, which was
riding a new wave of overflowing confidence, following the twin title wins by
our men’s and women’s teams.

Even AIFF's commercial partner IMG-Reliance failed to land a title sponsor for the 34th edition. Many would say securing a title sponsor for a sport like football in India is a tough ask, but lets not forget the 2005, 2006 and 2007 editions of the Federation Cup, which roped in title sponsors like Alchemist, Peerless and Hero Cycles. This just goes to show that getting sponsors is not something which is beyond the organizers.

These two shoddy happenings were massive setbacks
for the organizers; so what if it was largely their creation only. It’s a different
matter whether the organizers at all see this developments as a ‘setback’ for
them.

The Federation Cup clearly failed to live up to its billing.
The late monsoon also did not help matters as teams engaged in slushy ground
conditions for most part of the tournament with ‘quality’ football being the
‘casualty’.

For a tournament, which has a rich history dating back to
1977 when Mohun Bagan won the inaugural championship, edging out ITI-Bangalore
by a solitary goal, the Federation Cup has been a victim of dwindling spectacular
interest over the years.

Talking of the tournament’s early days, Kolkata clubs
(Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting ) literally made Federation Cup their own fiefdom, winning the Federation Cup 22
times and finishing second-best 16 times. The Kolkata clubs’ stranglehold over
the Federation Cup was broken in the last eighties when Goan club Salgaocar won
the 1988 edition after settling for a bridesmaid finish a year earlier.

Salgaocar’s title win opened the floodgates for the
non-Kolkata clubs to lay their hands on the winning trophy. The likes of Kerala Police and Phagwara-based JCT won the Federation Cup twice
in the nineties and soon the Kolkata clubs' overwhelming dominance was halted.

Sadly, both Kerala
Police and JCT are a thing of the past – Kerala Police hardly takes part in
big-ticket tournaments, while JCT had shut shop few years back along others
like Mahindra United and FC Kochin.

Indeed, the Federation Cup has a rich legacy to flaunt but
is reeling under unprofessionalism. One can’t help but feel that
this was a great opportunity for the powers-that-be to promote Indian football
and revive spectator interest given the recent the national teams' (men and
women) impressive showing on the international stage.

After all, for how long, are we going to
watch matches on substandard grounds, in front of sparse crowds or near empty
stands and viewers being bereft of live telecast? I dig deep and put my
thinking cap on and ask again: Have the people who run football in the country
missed out on a huge opportunity to cash in on the recent international success of our
national teams (men and women)? I am fully convinced we indeed have….

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

No team
has won the T20 World Cup more than once and can the men in blue become the
first team to achieve this feat and answer the fervent prayers of billion
Indians?

Obviously,
it doesn’t need a rocket scientist to figure out that the Indian team appears
imperious in sub-continental conditions, and the staging of the marquee event
in Sri Lanka only lulls me into thinking that Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men have to
be one of the favorities on this front alone.

As I
delve deeper, I wonder whether only familiar playing conditions
(sub-continental conditions) and formidable batting line-up are enough to
secure the passport to ‘glory’.

On
umpteen occasions, we have heard this; and surely we have not heard the last of
it! India possessing one of the world’s best batting line-ups almost sounds
like a tedious one-liner given its overuse in public domain over the years.

We have
an opener Virender Sehwag, who loves to take the bulls by its horns and pummel
the opposition into submission. The hassle with him is that he is becoming a
bit of a ‘cameo master’ in recent times and often exudes a false confidence
about shouldering more responsibility and using his head to bat deep in the
innings.

The
damaging impact Viru has on its opponents when he fires on all cylinders is
known to us but I want to ask one question? How many times have Sehwag got the
70s, 80s, 90s in the shorter version? Even for a format like T20 it is
imperative for a top-order batsman to score the 70s, 80s and 90s, if not a
hundred to help the team post an imposing total, if batting first, or while
chasing down a tall target.

Viru has
been guilty of chucking it away when he has the bowlers at its mercy – something which is
becoming a regular sight these days. Gautam Gambhir has also fallen prey to the
‘inconsistent syndrome’ though it has to be said that the southpaw at least tries to drop anchor if not on an consistent basis.

There is
enormous pressure on Virat Kohli – who is in the form of his life – to bail out
his side day in day out because our openers haven’t quite been able to stamp
their authority given their combined rich experience on the big stage.

You got
to understand that one Virat Kohli cannot alone lift our batting department in
its pursuit of glory. There has to be guys who should be ready to play the
support cast roles around Virat, allowing him the leeway to play his
natural game.

The
immensely talented Rohit Sharma thankfully announced his return to 'form' in the
practice game against Pakistan after enduring a dreadful run off late. But knowing
Rohit’s propensity to ‘flirt’ with 'inconsistency', one is not sure whether his
effort against Pakistan was just a flash in the pan.

Suresh
Raina has been doing exceedingly well in the ODIs in the last few months and
with the comeback man Yuvraj Singh in the fold, one hopes our middle-order
wears a settled look. Yuvraj, in particular, would be itching to have another impressive run on the World Cup stage after a prolonged battle with cancer. His heroics at the 2011 World Cup (50 overs format) is well documented and this time around Yuvi would be extra motivated to cap off a successful comeback.

Skipper
Mahendra Singh Dhoni would be better off not to leave things to the final over.
The Chennai T20 defeat against New Zealand must have enhanced the number of Dhoni-bashers, but to
be honest, one would expect Mahi to learn from that defeat and put in place
better gameplans to counter such situations in future. Surely, we had enough of
last-ball wins and Mr. Dhoni, we don’t need any more of that please!

The
biggest selection headache for the team would be to play seven batsmen or five
bowlers. Let’s face it; Dhoni seems comfortable with the idea of playing seven
batsmen as it beefs up the batting department.

Playing
seven batsmen implies that some of them have to double up as part-timers – the
likes of Yuvraj, Rohit, Raina and Kohli – but such a strategy can backfire if the
part-timers are taken to the cleaners and those ‘runs’ decide the fate of a match.
Personally, I have also felt that if the number six batsman is not going to deliver, I
don’t expect the seventh batsman to do any wonders.

What has
become striking lately is that our part-timers haven’t been able to keep the
opposition on a tight leash, which have given the India bowling a weak look.
Here, I am no way to trying to pin the blame on the part-timers - after all,
its a gamble that sometimes pays off and sometimes it doesn't.

This not
to shield our frontline bowlers – Zaheer Khan has loads of experience and he
needs to put that into play. In the T20 format Zaheer hasn't inspired much confidence in recent times. Even the likes of Lakshmipathy Balaji, Ashok Dinda and Irfan Pathan would also have to come up
with the goods because its only teams having penetrating bowling attacks, who would be the
favourities to win the T20 World Cup. In the spin department Ravichandran Ashwin is in fine fettle while another comeback Harbhajan Singh would be keen to make a big impression and cement his spot in the national side via the T20 route and subsequently earn recalls to the Test and ODI teams.

India’s famed batting department may run
up towering totals but what’s the point if our bowlers keep leaking runs. It’s
as simple as that.

Playing
five bowlers would be a brave move on Dhoni’s part but at some point of time
the Indian team management would have to explore such an option if the
part-timers are clobbered. Talking of playing five bowlers automatically means
Irfan Pathan has a big role to perform not just with the ball but also with the
bat.

To be
fair to Pathan, he is a decent bat who can play the big shots and has a pretty
sound technique to weather the best of bowling attacks. Playing Pathan as an
all-rounder would allow Dhoni to play three seamers and two spinners or even
two seamers and three spinners, but knowing the Sri Lankan conditions he might
be tempted to play two seamers and three spinners.

To top
it all, India is an ageing side with as many as seven players in the 30-33 age
bracket. India are also one of the slowest movers in the field as compared to
most other top teams. A weak bowling attack and slackness in the field are two
aspects India would look to cover up with their strengths, which is going to be
a tough ask as the men in blue seek to pop the champagne on October 7!

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Indian football is
surely on the upswing! First, the Indian men’s team did the country proud when
they upstaged a much higher ranked Cameroon in the final to win the Nehru Cup
for the third consecutive team. Now, the Indian women’s team gave all of us another
reason to rejoice as they retained the 2nd SAFF Football
Championships in perhaps the most clinical style – outwitting Nepal 3-1 in the
summit clash.

And this winning highs
have to be seen in perspective. Any victory in Indian football is celebrated and
appreciated all right; but it is also accompanied by cynicism – especially
regarding the quality of opposition India won against.

For instance, Indian
men’s team Nehru Cup wins in the 2007 and 2009 editions may not be talked about
in the same light as the 2012 edition for the sheer ‘Cameroon’ factor. Okay,
Cameroon came into the tournament sans the likes of Samuel Eto and Alex Song
but their absence no way diluted the competitiveness of the African side, who
seemed to have enough firepower in the side.

The manner in which Gourmangi
Singh gave India the lead against Cameroon and later skipper Sunil Chettri
brought us back on level terms in the dying moments of the game are enough
indications of the new found self-belief that this team can dish out much better
brand of football than their current 169 FIFA ranking suggests.

The winning momentum
was built upon by our women footballers in the SAFF championship. Of course,
their triumph would be greeted with talks of inferior opponents and the ease
with which they cornered glory.

It’s not our women’s footballers’ fault that
most of the SAFF football playing nations have failed to bring
any improvements in their playing standards.

Save for Nepal, who
emerged the second best team in the tournament by a long shot, India were
engaged in lop-sided matches for most part of the tournament. In fact, apart from
the final match where Nepal took an early lead against us, Indian women were either
having target practice or toying with their opponents.

The decimation they
inflicted on their opponents is a further indication of their 52nd
FIFA ranking and should not be seen the other way around (that the title win
was a piece of cake for the girls).

Two international
titles in a matter of one month have given Indian football the much-needed leg up and
one hopes that AIFF puts its best foot forward to sustain this winning momentum
in both men’s and women’s football.

When I say this, I mean AIFF must make
every effort to stage more international games on FIFA match days as that is
the first logical way to move up in FIFA rankings before we think of other
ambitious targets like World Cup qualifiers among others.